FIVE TAMPA GRADS GEAR UP FOR KENTUCKY DERBY

OLDSMAR, Fla. (April 29, 2009) Don’t miss all of the Kentucky Derby excitement at Tampa Bay Downs! The 135th edition of the Run for the Roses will be shown at the Oldsmar oval on Saturday, May 2; gates open at 10 AM, mutuel lines will open at 10:15 AM and post time for the first race at Churchill Downs will be at 10:30 AM! Tampa Bay Dows will be running a 12-race live card with a special post time of approximately 12:15. Parking is always free, valet parking is $5, Grandstand admission is $2 and Clubhouse admission is $3. Mint juleps will be on sale throughout the facility all day in the official commemorative glass of the Kentucky Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 28, 2009) – Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss’ Zenyatta, the undefeated 5-year-old who earned a 2008 Eclipse Award as the nation’s top older filly or mare was one of three finalists for “Horse of the Year” honors, will face seven challengers Friday in the 24th running of the $350,000-added Louisville Distaff (Grade II) on Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs.

The 12-race card Friday, highlighted by the 135th running of the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks (Grade I), will begin with a 10:30 a.m. ET post time. Five other stakes will be on the card, four of them graded.

Derby 135 Notes (4.29)

ATOMIC RAIN – A late addition to the field for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), Atomic Rain arrived at Churchill Downs at 2 a.m. Wednesday after a 13-hour van ride from Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Trainer Kelly Breen was aboard when the Smart Strike colt went out for a one-mile jog this morning at 7 o’clock. Atomic Rain returned from the exercise bucking and snorting.

Tuesday, April 28 2009

Kentucky Derby 135 Notes (4.28.09)

ADVICE/DUNKIRK/JOIN IN THE DANCE – It now appears trainer Todd Pletcher will start three horses in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby 135 – Advice, Dunkirk and Join in the Dance.

After consulting with the various owners of his four potential Derby starters, the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer decided to go with three and drop one – that horse being Take the Points, who is owned by the Starlight Partners stable of Jack and Laurie Wolf.

Kentucky Oaks 135 Notes (4.28.09)

BE FAIR/STONE LEGACY/TWEETER – Marylou Whitney Stables' Stone Legacy was entered for Kentucky Oaks 135 by trainer D. Wayne Lukas on Tuesday morning. The decision gave Lukas three fillies in the Oaks, a race he has won four times.

Stone Legacy, who galloped Tuesday morning, will be ridden for the first time by Kent Desormeaux and break from post position three.

Westrock Stables' Be Fair galloped on her first day back on the track after working five furlongs on Sunday in 1:00.20 under exercise rider Omar Golon.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 28, 2009) – L and M Partner’s brilliant Rachel Alexandra, who closed 2008 with a dominating victory in the Golden Rod (Grade II) beneath the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs, will put a four-race win streak on the line Friday when she faces seven rivals in the 135th running of the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) at the legendary Louisville track.

The Oaks, America’s top race for 3-year-old fillies, will go as the 11th race on Friday with a 5:45 p.m. (all times EDT) post time. The 12-race Oaks Day card has a first post time of 10:30 a.m.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux for trainer Eddie Kenneally, Valtrus returned mutuels of $5.40, $3.60 and $3.40. Faithope, ridden by Gabriel Saez, returned $10.60 and $6.40 and finished three-quarters of a length ahead of pacesetter Crowned General who returned $4.80 to show under Robby Albarado.

TRAINER JERRY CALVIN RETIRES – AT LEAST FOR NOW

Trainer Jerry Calvin, a consistent summer presence in Chicago and a horseman who ranks among the top 40 of Arlington Park’s all-time leading trainers, turned back his local stalls a couple of weeks ago and will remain at his home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the upcoming Arlington season which opens Friday.

“I’m not calling it a retirement just yet,” said Calvin, speaking over the phone from Arkansas Tuesday morning, “I may get back in the game at some future point, but I doubt it.”

FAITH SCHORR RIDES HER FIRST WINNER

OLDSMAR, Fla. (April 28, 2009) Apprentice jockey Faith Schorr guided Jackie B Good to victory for owner/trainer Michael Thomas in today’s third race at Tampa Bay Downs, giving the rider her first career victory. Schorr, an eighteen-year-old native of Ohio, says that she knew that she wanted to be a jockey since her childhood. Schorr cites her mother as her greatest influence, saying, “Everything she’s done, she did to help our family. So this is the way I’m going to help my family. My mother was a pony girl at Mountaineer, and then she became a trainer. I’d been hanging out at Mountaineer since I was 14, and I began galloping horses for my mom when I was 16. I’ve wanted to ride ever since I was little.”

The Prince George’s County (MD) harness track owes the Maryland thoroughbred industry $2 million since January 1 and indicated at today’s meeting that it is has no intention to compensate the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA) and Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MBHA).